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Tuesday, September 01, 2009

The Twilight Zone of Christian Fundamentalism

I hope you have a strong stomach because your next stop, my friend, is The Twilight Zone. Consider the demented mind of minister Steven Anderson, of the Faithful Word Baptist Church of Mesa, Arizona. You will have a hard time believing that one person can hold so many insane ideas.

Anderson believes a lot of things, a lot of wacky things. He lives much of his life inside The Twilight Zone where the real isn’t real but fantasies are. Anderson is the minister who got his sad little congregation some publicity by preaching that he prays every night that God will kill President Obama. I’m no fan of Obama, for the same reason I was no fan of Dubya. But I’m not so obsessed with hatred that I’m pleading with an imaginary playmate to kill the guy. It’s just not in me.

Apparently I don’t love god enough to want to kill people. I’m just too atheistic and evil to want to violate the rights of others. But Pastor Anderson does have lots of hate, for lots of people.

So let’s look at what life is like in The Twilight Zone of fundamentalist lunacy. First, were you aware that Ron Paul is a pervert? Please, before you start sending me hate mail, I didn’t say it. I have lots of criticism for Paul, but I never took him as a pervert. Apparently Pastor Anderson does. Remember that Ron Paul, when he was doing something useful in the private sector, was a gynecologist. According to Anderson all gynecologists are perverts – well all the male ones, that is.

Anderson says: “Is nudity before the opposite gender a sin? Well if it is, then it must always be a sin, whether at an xxx theater, a swimming pool, or in a doctor’s office. “ The ONLY exception the Bible makes (and we know how reliable it is) “is between husband and wife.” He notes that Jehovah condemns “nakedness between brother and sister, father and daughter, mother and son, aunt and…." and the list goes on. Are you following this? This is what happens when you put the Bible in the hands of an uneducated lunatic.

As far as I can see, a mother who changes the diaper of her baby son is a sinner since the only exception to the ban on seeing a nude human is between husband and wife. Bathing children in the tub apparently is a sin. But let's move on to Dr. Paul’s office.

Anderson says that a male doctor, examining a female patient is “the most disgusting practice.” Since his god “is so against nudity between members of the opposite gender why would he allow a man called a doctor to examine a woman’s naked body throughout her pregnancy and up to the birth as if he were somehow immune from sin or God’s laws?”

Anderson says only woman should be allowed to help women give birth. Of course, the problem is that these women can only help a woman giving birth to female children. Otherwise they would look upon the nudity of a member of the “opposite gender." Apparently it is sinful for a woman to give birth to male children unless she manages to squeeze them out with diapers already attached. Actually diapers wouldn't be enough. Elsewhere Anderson preaches that seeing a thigh is "nakedness" and forbidden by God as well. God really has a thing for the human body.

Anderson says that doctors who examine women start out as perverts and become more perverted the longer they do it. He says, “men who look at nudity… become more perverted, not less perverted. If the appetite for nudity is fed, the appetite increases not diminishes.”

Anderson preached, “What kind of a man would go into a profession of examining women’s private parts? Don’t tell me that he is not made of the same sinful flesh that every other man is made of. No man can look at pornographic images and not be affected. This why God commands us repeatedly to set no wicked things before our eyes.” Please note that he saying that a woman’s genitals are a “wicked thing.” He says that doctors like Ron Paul are adulterers. “Any doctor that looks upon and touches a woman’s private parts in his office ‘hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.’ Sir, if you let your wife go to a male gynecologist, you need to get right with God”

In another sermon Anderson has some advice as to what gynecologists like Dr. Paul should do. “Do you know what every male gynecologist ought to do? He ought to take a scalpel and a lancet and cut out his own eye and throw it in the trash. That is what the Bible says. He ought to just remove his own eye. I am not kidding. He has got all the tools to do it. He ought to do it.”

Please remember, we are just entering The Twilight Zone. There is more lunacy around every bend when it comes to Bible-believing, fundamentalist ministers.

Rev. Anderson, like every fundamentalist nutter around, is also obsessed with gay people. And he is determined to, pardon the pun, set the world straight about the issue of gay people. They are like gynecologists, but worse. They are all perverts, just like the good doctors, but they are also all predators, every single one of them.

He argues that every person is born heterosexual but that “a process must take place before a person can become so perverted as to desire a relationship with the same gender.” According to Anderson the loving Christian deity believes that all gay people are “filthy animals.” It is also permissible to call gay people “queers” because such insults are “a very Biblical description of the homosexual.” This is because, these “queers,” these “homosexuals,” are “Sodomites.” And, “Every Sodomite in the Bible is a rapist or molester.” Anderson preaches that “God is showing us what the queers are about. They desire to pervert others through rape and molestation.”

Anderson says: “every Sodomite mentioned in the Bible is a rapist. This is why God instituted the death penalty for Sodomites. He knows that they are predators and should be kept away from society and especially children.” My lord, they sound as dangerous as the gynecologists! Maybe worse, since Anderson wants the homosexuals killed while the gynecologists just have to cut out their own eyes. In a recent interview Anderson claimed that while he hasn't seen every gay person he's run into molesting children and raping adults that is "because they're doing it behind closed doors."

Anderson also corrects a misconception that is so widespread that even most homosexuals believe it. That misconception is “that homosexuals are only attracted to and only prey on men. It is clearly seen in the Bible that homosexuals are perverted in other ways and are always bisexual.” So, all gay men are predators who also rape women. Who would have thunk it? Anderson warns: “Just because a man is married and has children does not rule out the fact that he is sodomite pervert. [The man is uneducated so I’m sure he didn’t realize that he just preached that all men are sodomite perverts.] This is one reason why small children should not be left alone with a man that is outside the immediate family.” Too bad that most molestations take place within the immediate family. Anderson says good Christians have to “take a stand against the Sodomite freaks.” What a sweetheart!

Yep, guys, you've got to protect your wives from gay men, who want to rape them, but then they want to rape you too, and your kids. For Christ's sake, you better hide the Dalmatian. The poor squirrels will just have to fend for themselves.

Anderson wants Christians to take a stand against gays. And that stand includes killing gays. In a sermon he said: “The same God who instituted the death penalty for murderers is the same God who instituted the death penalty for rapists and homosexuals – sodomites, queers! That’s what it was instituted for, okay? That’s God, he hasn’t changed. Oh, God doesn’t feel that way in the New Testament … God never felt anything about it, he commanded it and said they should be taken out and killed.” It is a commandment of God to go out and kill gays—that is what the man said. Ask him if this is God's commandment, should people obey God or not? Is murdering homosexuals obedience to God?

He says that if Christians don’t kill gays then gays will pervert their children.

...the sodomites are infectious… they're not reproducers, that goes without saying, they're recruiters.

How are they multiplying? Do you not see that they're multiplying? Are you that blind? Have you noticed that there's more than there were last year and the year before, and the year before that? How are they multiplying? They're reproducing right? No, here's a biology lesson: they're not reproducers, they're recruiters! And you know who they're after? Your children. Remember you dropped off your kids last week? That's who they're after. You drop them off at some daycare, you drop them off at some school somewhere, you don't know where they're at. I'll tell you where they're at: they're being recruited by the sodomites. They're being molested by the sodomites. I can tell you so many stories about people that I know being molested and recruited by the sodomites.

They recruit through rape. They recruit through molestation. They recruit through violation. They are infecting our society. They are spreading their disease. It's not a physical disease, it's a sin disease , it's a wicked, filthy sin disease and it's spreading on a rampage. Can't you see that it's spreading on a rampage? I mean, can you not see that? Can you not see that it's just exploding in growth? Why? Because each sodomite recruits far more than one other sodomite because his whole life is about recruiting other sodomites, his whole life is about violating and hurting people and molesting 'em.

So how many sodomites is one sodomite going to produce? A lot, and that's why it's just exploding. The only way to stop it, you say "how do we stop it?" ... You want to know why sodomites are recruiting? Because they have no natural predators.

Apparently this self-proclaimed minister wants to solve this problem by creating “natural predators” who will follow God’s word and go out and kill some gay people.

Or take these gems from the interview below. Asked if wants all gay people executed, Anderson responded, "That is correct, That's what the Bible teaches." When asked how a Christian society should respond to someone who went out and killed gay, Anderson is very reluctant to answer but he says: "I would not judge them as a murderer, no." His worry is that this presently violates the law and nothing more. His concern is that those who kill gays get a fair trial. He says: "I do not believe that they should receive the death penalty, no." He says they are criminals, but not candidates for the death penalty because they only murdered a homosexual. So, a killer is not eligible for the death penalty, but all gays should be executed. The implication of this is that it is NOT morally wrong to kill gay people, it is only illegal. Change the law, allowing the summary execution of homosexuals and Pastor Anderson's worry would disappear. It would be hunting season.

As for gay people who are church members Anderson says, "it's because they probably can get some action with the children. ...I believe that's why they go to church. Oh, yeah, I've seen homosexuals infiltrate church and molest kids in Sunday School. You see that in Phoenix almost every day." (Almost every day? Sunday School?)

The man doing the interview with Anderson said: "You know, I'm gay... I'm gay and I don't molest any children. What do you think?" Anderson, of course has an answer. He always has an answer, just not a rational one. "Well, I'd say you're lying." The radio host asked: "Do you pray that I'll die tonight?" Anderson: "If you're a homosexual, I hope you get brain cancer like Ted Kennedy," with that he hung up the phone.

Television is something that is sinful as well, but then that’s the fault of the Sodomites. “I couldn’t really name all the shows. I mean, I don’t really know what they are. But I promise you it is just filled with, with sodomy. I promise you it is just filled with gays and lesbians and freakos. I promise you.” (NOTE TO SELF: call cable provider, they’ve been shortchanging me.) According to Anderson you shouldn’t even watch the cooking shows: “You say, ‘Well, I don’t watch that stuff. I just watch the weather. I just watch the cooking shows. Those guys cooking on the cooking channels are a bunch of queers. You know they are.” “The TV is filled with sodomites.”

Even shows like The Andy Griffith Show, are evil because “Gomer Pyle is a queer in real life that died of AIDS..” For the record, Gomer Pyle was played by Jim Nabors, who did not die of AIDS, or anything else, yet. He is a ripe 79 years old, so much for fundamentalism and its commitment to the “truth.” Funny thing is that Pastor Steve looks a bit like Gomer Pyle himself, probably queer! (The guy on the right is Jim Nabors, he pretends to be a moron on television. The guy on the left is Steve Anderson, he doesn't pretend.)

Why is Leave it to Beaver evil? “Ward Cleaver and June Cleaver are married to other people in real life and yet they kiss each other on the screen.” Stay with me folks this gets funny. Anderson shrieks: “How you like it, honey, if I were an actor and I kissed some other man’s wife on the screen? You say, “Well, that’s different because they are actors? Oh, it is different because they are getting paid to do? That’s called prostitution.” Yes, Leave It to Beaver paid Ward and June to kiss each other and that was prostitution! No wonder June was always saying: "Ward, weren't you a little hard on the Beaver?" (I've been waiting years to use that line.)

I Love Lucy? Evil as well. “Ricky Ricardo works in a bar, in a dance club, in a night club.” All these evil shows are part of “an agenda.

Even Little House on the Prairie is evil because “Michael Landon is a homo. He died of AIDS. That’s a fact. You know, the guy, Michael Landon, Little House on the Prairie, the long-haired queer little sissy. He died of AIDS. He is a homo, ok.” Once again the loving Christian minister is lying to his congregation. Landon, who was quite heterosexual, died from cancer, not AIDS. But lying is par for the course in fundamentalist churches. They want to believe the worst of people and they do. And when they can't believe the worst, based on the evidence, they just make shit up.

Anderson sees “queers” everywhere. He admits it. In one sermon he said: “I mean sometimes I will see guys in 2007 and it is like at first that they are a queer. But then I just realize that is just the way our society is now. You know, may they are not even… maybe they are straight, but maybe they are just dress dressing that way they look at it all… because their tent is pitched toward Sodom.”

When the dark side of this lunatic is revealed it’s going to be a pretty sordid sight. Based on what I've seen with these purity preachers I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there is some hidden, sexual problem in this man's life. Sure, it's just conjecture, but it has happened so often I have to wonder. The "sins" that people often target in the lives of others are frequently the sins they themselves are guilty of. We fear in others, what we fear in ourselves.

You think the Taliban is crazy about morality, then meet Steve Anderson. All this from just three of his sermons. Trust me, this man has more snakes slithering around underneath his rocks.